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Crosswalk and walk signal are desperately needed on Whitney at Audubon. Hundreds of people cross here daily, many of them high school students and younger kids from Neighborhood Music School and Creative Arts Workshop, but there is no safe way to cross. Cars come accelerating up Whitney from the light at Grove. Delivery trucks are frequently double-parked on the block, making it even harder for pedestrians to see when the way is clear.

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12 Comments

I can't count the number of times that I've j-walked at this intersection. Each time I feel like I'm in frogger about to get squashed by a fast moving car.

Forcing pedestrians to walk down to Groove or Trumbull seems designed to create j-walking here. Audubon is a street that draws allot of pedestrian traffic. There has got to be something that we can do that is a start to improve safety at this intersection.

Could crosswalks and pedestrian in road way signs be a first step?
-Kam

ben(Guest)

I agree that this issue is urgent. Raised, lit, textured, well marked crosswalks and measures to control speed are a solution. The street should be posted at 15 mph, like other bustling ped-rich commercial zones in central cities around the world - that, combined with a few sting operations, might also help temporarily until the necessary safety improvements can be put in.

This is even more important given the downturn in the economy. Given two locations and equal transportation costs, people are going to shop in areas that are convenient, pleasant to walk around, and have the greatest number of stores. That means that strip malls and enclosed malls are becoming more competitive with this beautiful stretch of Downtown, resulting in decreased economic activity for New Haven. We need to make our downtown more walkable, and make it easier for everyone (of all abilities, not just yuppies) to cross the streets, if we want retail sales to grow in the face of national decline.

Ben(Guest)

Aerial photo of issue (click to enlarge). I think this photo speaks to how hard it is to spot the fact that there is actually a legal pedestrian crossing here. I really can't blame drivers for being surprised to see me in the road here.

A major part of the problem seems to be the rise in the road just before this intersection (where Whitney passes over the former rail line). Drivers accelerate to get over the hill, and then come down the other side at high speeds right into the intersection. On top of that, the rise impedes the vision of both drivers and pedestrians trying to cross here.

Some speed cushions near the crest of the rise would probably do the trick. Speed cushions are like speed bumps, but with gaps (making them look like cushions). The cushions slow down cars, but the gaps allow wide-axle vehicles such as buses and fire trucks to pass safely.

Anonymous(Guest)

Resident(Guest)

Yale's new residential colleges would add a lot of student traffic to this area. This intersection absolutely needs to be fixed before those (or any other new development within a few blocks of this) are constructed.

per(Guest)

a death trap for t he public school students in this area

the high school on crown street is even worse. college street is like a 3-4 lane highway and runs right in front of the school. that road should be narrowed down to one lane and calmed before a student is run down